


Lingering Feelings

by SalineCoelacanth



Series: Ninjago Fusion Au [5]
Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, M/M, fusion au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:41:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25114087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SalineCoelacanth/pseuds/SalineCoelacanth
Summary: The ninja have returned from the Never Realm and try their best to go back to normal, but Zane keeps his distance from the others, causing them to worry more and more about him.
Relationships: Cole/Jay Walker, Kai/Zane (Ninjago)
Series: Ninjago Fusion Au [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1664923
Comments: 10
Kudos: 83





	1. Return to Anomaly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ninja start to notice something off with Zane after a mishap fighting against Ultra Violet.

“Ha ha ha!” Ultra Violet laughed as she ran down the streets of Ninjago City. She caused as much chaos as she could, which mainly just involved knocking over trash cans and making a mess through the streets. She paused, taking in the minor damage she caused and smirked. “Now that I’m finally out of that stupid place, I can finally-”

“Not so fast, Ultra Violet!” she was interrupted as she heard an unfamiliar voice. She turned around and saw two ninja standing behind her, one wearing navy blue and the other in pink.

“Everyone knows villains who escape from Kryptarium don’t stay out for long,” Ridge taunted.

“What the!? Who are you guys?” Ultra Violet asked.

“Wow, you HAVE been in Kryptarium for a long time,” Ridge replied. “Nevermind, that doesn’t matter. Swift, you ready for a fight?” He turned to his friend.

“You know it,” Swift replied, summoning one of his darts.

“Wha- Wait a minute,” Ultra Violet responded. “Are you those weird fusions that crazy science lady wouldn’t shut up about?”

“Aww, Swift, did you hear that?” Ridge asked, clapping his hands together. “Corria’s already making friends in prison! How sweet!”

Swift rolled his eyes. “Ridge, can we just focus on the fight?” he asked.

“Yeah, I wanna fight!” Ultra Violet agreed. “I don’t care about your weird weapons or powers. I’ll still beat you!”

Swift’s eyes went wide as Ultra Violet spoke. He started to zone out slightly.

“I’d like to see you try!” Ridge responded. 

Swift felt like his world was beginning to turn dark. He started backing away slowly, completely blocking out everything around him. His eyes quickly turned a bright pink color.

_ I’m not done yet…  _ Ridge’s words began to echo in Swift’s mind.  _ I’m not giving up! _

Frost began to form on Swift’s legs, but he barely seemed to notice. A fire started forming around his body, slowly growing bigger and bigger, but again, Swift didn't notice. He kept hearing more voices echo in his mind.

_ Swift! Stop!  _ Nya demanded.

_ This has to stop!  _ Lloyd pleaded.

Swift looked down at his hands as he began to panic more, his body growing shaky. Then he heard another voice echo.

_ Ah, I see you have taken care of these three. Why not display them as trophies? _

__ Swift tried to shake his head away from that voice. Why  _ him?  _ Why did he have to remember  _ his  _ voice? Finally, Swift heard his own voice.

_ I’m done sitting around, Vex! I want to FIGHT! I have so much power. Why not unleash it onto this pitiful realm? _

__ “Swift!”

“Ack!” Swift finally snapped out of his daze, the fire around his body calming down.

“Swift, are you ok?” Ridge asked.

“Huh?” Swift replied, his eyes turning back to their natural green color. “What the? Where am I? What happened to Ultra Violet?” Swift asked in a panic, looking around the area.

“You uh… took care of her,” Ridge responded.

Swift looked over at Ultra Violet who was completely encased in ice. Swift stared at her in complete shock and a bit of fear.

“Along with those trees…” Ridge continued.

“What?” Swift questioned. He turned around to see a bunch of trees that were on fire. Swift stared at the trees with the same expression he gave Ultra Violet. Ridge stared at the trees as well before turning to Swift, giving him a worried look. 

“Swift, are you ok?” he asked again.

“Huh?” Swift responded. “Yeah, I’m ok. Why are you asking?”

“Well it’s just this has been happening to you a lot lately,” Ridge explained. “Where you freak out, and your eyes…” Ridge paused. “They uh… turn pink…”

Swift looked away for a moment before giving Ridge a reassuring smile. “Hey, it… it’s fine. I’m fine,” he assured. “It’s nothing to worry about. Let’s just get Ultra Violet back to Kryptarium…”

Ridge watched as Swift started walking away. “He’s upset about something,” he said to himself. “I know, but it’s not like he’ll tell us anything. Kai and Zane are both too stubborn. They never want to burden anyone with their problems.”

______________________________________________

The ninja got back to the monastery and unfused, tired from their day of fighting crime. They all sat in the living room except for Zane who walked towards his room.

“Zane? Where are you going?” Cole asked.

“I’m just going to be in my room for a while,” Zane replied.

Before the others could ask any follow up questions, Zane was already gone. They each looked at each other nervously.

“You guys have noticed it too, right?” Jay asked.

“Yep,” Cole replied. “He’s been acting pretty distant lately.”

“He hasn’t even fused with anyone but Kai!” Jay added. “Kai, is something wrong with Zane?”

Kai gave them a blank stare before looking away and rubbing the back of his head. “I don’t know… he doesn’t really like talking about stuff.”

“Not even when you’re fused?” Cole questioned.

“No. He just… keeps his distance and blocks me out when things get hectic.” Kai explained.

“Well it’s starting to become a problem for Swift,” Cole said. “He’s been freaking out like that more and more often and pretty soon he’s gonna get innocent people hurt.”

“Well what do you want me to do?” Kai asked. “He won’t talk to me.”

Jay let out a sigh. “Ever since we got back from… you know where, things just haven’t been the same.”

“Maybe he just needs some space,” Cole suggested. “And maybe he needs a break from Swift.”

“Yeah, after all, Swift was… you know who in you know where.”

“Jay, you don’t need to keep talking about it all cryptic like that!” Kai yelled. “He was the Emperor in the Never Realm, you don’t need to refer to it as ‘you know who’.”

Jay flinched back slightly. “Kai, are you-”

“Yes, I’m ok!” Kai interrupted. He let out a sigh. “This is my fault, isn’t it? I ruined Swift for him.”

“No you didn’t,” Cole assured. “He just needs a break from Swift, ok?”

Kai let out a yawn. “Look, we’ve had a long day. We should get some rest.”

Kai got up and started walking towards his room. Cole and Jay looked at each other before getting up as well to go get some rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So some people have probably already seen the first scene here since I made a comic of it that I posted on my tumblr a good while ago so that's fun. Also I just want to apologize for taking so long to post this. I meant to post this about two days ago but I kept forgetting. This fic isn't very long so hopefully I don't take forever to post it.


	2. Mix It Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the ninja need to go out to fight some thugs, they decide to change things up and use a different pair of fusions than they've been using.

A couple of days passed and the city was pretty quiet when it came to crime. The ninja took this as an opportunity to relax. They tried to get Zane to come out of his room to watch T.V. and play video games, but he assured them that he just wanted to stay in his room. 

“Is… is he avoiding us?” Jay asked nervously.

“No, he’s probably just tired,” Cole replied. “Remember, he spent years in the Never Realm. It’ll probably take him some time to readjust.”

“Are you sure?” Jay questioned. “It seems like he just doesn’t want to hang out with us anymore.”

“Just give him some time, Jay,” Nya responded. “If Zane wants to be alone, we should let him be alone.”

Suddenly, Zane entered the room. “Some thugs were spotted in the city,” he announced.

“So much for relaxing,” Jay complained, slouching on the couch.

“C’mon, Jay, get up,” Kai said. He turned to Zane. “How many are there?”

“It seems that there’s only two of them,” Zane explained.

“Alright, let’s go,” Lloyd said.

“No, you stay here,” Kai directed.

“Oh come on!” Lloyd replied. “I can fight, Kai! I’m not too injured to help anymore!”

“Just stay here, ok?” Kai ordered. “Besides, it’s only two thugs. It’ll be easy. We don’t need the full team going out.”

“Ugh, fine,” Lloyd agreed reluctantly, sitting back down.

“Make sure to call us just in case you need backup,” Nya added.

“We probably won’t need any,” Kai assured. 

“Kai, we need to go,” Zane urged.

“Alright, we’ll be right back.”

The four ninja made their way to the city. Zane grabbed Kai’s hand as they arrived.

“We should fuse just in case there is more trouble than anticipated,” he advised.

“Nope,” Jay interrupted, pulling Kai away from Zane. “We’ve all come to the agreement that you need a break from Swift.”

“What?” Zane questioned.

“Zane, whenever you two fuse, you always end up freaking out,” Cole explained. “We’re not saying you can never fuse with Kai again, just that you two need a break from each other.”

Zane looked at Kai. Kai let out a sigh. “They have a point, Zane.”

“Ok…” Zane agreed quietly.

“Hey, you can still fuse with me and Jay,” Cole assured. “Just not Kai for now.”

“Yeah, let’s use some other fusions for once!” Jay agreed. “We haven’t used anyone except for Ridge and Swift in forever!”

“O-ok,” Zane agreed. “Cole, can we fuse?”

“Of course, buddy,” Cole replied.

The ninja quickly fused into Fleet and Techtonic and started running down the street, looking for the thugs. They eventually found them in an alleyway, counting the money they had stolen.

“Hey!” Fleet yelled, getting their attention. 

“Whah!” one of the thugs screamed. “Ninja fusions! We gotta get out of here!”

They tried to run down the alleyway, but one of them was quickly caught by Fleet and his kusarigama.

“Techtonic, go get the other one,” Fleet ordered.

Techtonic nodded and started running after the other thug. Fleet walked over and grabbed the bag of money, looking inside to see how much was stolen. There surprisingly wasn’t a lot.

“Where’d you get this?” Fleet asked.

“Th-the flower shop down the street,” the thug admitted.

Fleet shook his head. “Robbing from local businesses. That’s low.” He grabbed the thug and started dragging him as he walked down the alleyway. “Alright, let’s go meet up with your friend.”

Fleet got to the end of the alleyway. He noticed the other thug was backed up into a corner, Techtonic walking up to him slowly.

“St-stay away!” the thug yelled. His voice was full of fear.

“You think I’m just gonna let you get away?” Techtonic asked, his voice intimidating.

“Techtonic?” Fleet questioned. It wasn’t normal for him to act like this. He let go of the other thug who was still tied up and started walking closer. “Techtonic, are you-”

Techtonic snapped his head back, glaring at Fleet. Fleet flinched. Techtonic’s eyes, which were normally an emerald green color, were now glowing a blue-grey color.

“Why are you interfering?” he asked.

“T-Techtonic, what are you doing!?” Fleet asked, panicked.

Without hesitation, Techtonic shot an icy blast at Fleet, freezing him to the wall. 

“Ack!” Fleet yelled. “Techtonic!”

Techtonic turned his attention back to the thug who started yelling in fear again.

Fleet quickly melted the ice and ran over to grab his kusarigama, freeing the other thug. The thug quickly got up and ran away.

Techtonic grabbed the other thug by his shirt, lifting him up.

“You are quite the pathetic creature,” Techtonic taunted. “You really think that you stand a chance against me?” He readied a punch, ice forming around his first. “Think again.” Techtonic tried to punch the thug, but his arm was stopped. Techtonic looked back at Fleet who used his kusarigama to hold him back. 

“Techtonic, stop!” Fleet pleaded.

“The feeble one wants to challenge me?” Techtonic questioned. He dropped the thug. “What a stupid decision.” He quickly shot out a large rock from the ground at Fleet, knocking him down and leaving a big scratch on his face. The rock retreated back into the ground and Techtonic turned back to the thug, a grin on his face. “Now, where were we?”

“Ow ow ow!” Fleet mumbled as he struggled to get back up.

“Fleet?” Techtonic whispered. He turned around and gasped as he saw Fleet on the ground. “Fleet!” he yelled, his eyes fading back to green.

Techtonic ran over, kneeling down to help Fleet up. He noticed a scratch on the smaller fusion’s cheek that was starting to bleed.

“T-Techtonic?” Fleet questioned, slight fear in his voice.

“Fleet, what happened? Are you ok?” Techtonic asked.

Fleet just gave Techtonic a blank stare. “This isn’t just a Swift problem…” he whispered.

“What?” Techtonic questioned. “What are you talking about?” Techtonic heard the thug behind him start to get back up and turned around.

“You’re crazy!” he yelled.

“You,” Techtonic grumbled. “You hurt Fleet, didn’t you?”

“Techtonic, no, he didn’t-”

“Quiet!” Techtonic snapped, his eyes turning grey again. He stood up and turned towards the thug. “You’re going to pay for- ACK!”

Fleet stopped Techtonic, sending a massive jolt of electricity through his body and knocking him unconscious. Techtonic fell over and Fleet stood over him, breathing heavily as he looked at him.

“Did… did you just?” the thug asked.

“Get out of here before he wakes up!” Fleet ordered.

The thug nodded in fear, quickly running away.

Fleet looked back at Techtonic and started to panic. “Oh crap oh crap! I just- I just did that! I just knocked out Techtonic!” He took some deep breaths and pulled out his communicator, calling Nya. “Hello? Nya?” 

“Hey, Fleet,” Nya responded. “I see you guys decided to mix it up for once. How are things going?”

“Uhh, can you come pick us up?” Fleet asked.

“Uh, sure,” Nya replied, confused. “Why?”

“Because I don’t want to drag an unconscious body all the way back!” Fleet explained with an irritable tone.

“What!?”

“Look, just come get us!” Fleet replied. “I’ll explain things when you get us.” He hung up his communicator and grabbed Techtonic’s arm. “We might as well get out of this alleyway,” he said. He started walking down the alleyway, struggling as he dragged Techtonic’s body down the rough pavement. He eventually reached an open area and let go of Techtonic’s arm. He leaned over, trying to catch his breath. He looked back at Techtonic who was still completely unconscious. He kneeled down and gently rubbed his head. “Don’t worry,” he whispered, “we’re gonna figure this out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was debating whether or not to post the first two chapters on the same day or not but I didn't because I was too tired to post two chapters yesterday. So, to make up for it, I just decided to post two days in a row. Not sure when the next chapter will come out, probably a couple of days.  
> Also the formatting is messed up, idk why it does that sometimes and I'm too lazy to fix it right now. It just does this on some of my fics for some reason and it's really annoying


	3. The Problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ninja finally confront Zane about his issues

Techtonic slowly opened his eyes. “Ugh…” he mumbled as he slowly sat up. He rubbed his forehead. He had a massive headache. He looked around, confused to find himself back at the monastery.

“You’ve got some explaining to do,” Nya’s abrupt voice made Techtonic jump. He didn’t even notice everyone else on the other side of his bed watching him. Nya had her arms crossed, along with Kai, who also had a bandage on his cheek. Jay stood next to Kai, and although he didn’t look as upset as Kai and Nya, he didn’t look happy. Lloyd was the only one who didn’t look angry.

“What?” Techtonic asked innocently.

Kai let out an annoyed sigh. “Look, can you just make this easier and unfuse?” he asked. “We need to talk to Zane.”

“I… I don’t understand,” Techtonic replied. “What’s wrong.”

“Just unfuse!” Kai snapped.

Techtonic jumped again. “O-ok,” he responded. He closed his eyes and turned into light as he split back into Cole and Zane. Cole got up, stumbling slightly until Nya helped him keep his balance. Zane looked at everyone with a worried expression.

“Zane, what’s going on?” Kai asked, his voice more calm now.

“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Zane replied.

“Zane, there’s something wrong and you need to tell us about it,” Jay urged.

“N-Nothing’s wrong,” Zane assured, although the nervousness in his voice said otherwise.

“Zane…” Cole’s voice was quiet. “Something’s wrong. Something was wrong with Techtonic and we need to figure it out.”

“I-” Zane thought for a moment. “It was probably nothing.”

“Zane, it wasn’t nothing!” Cole argued.

“This sort of thing happened with both Swift and Techtonic, so clearly it’s something happening with you,” Jay added.

“But, I don’t understand what’s wrong,” Zane admitted. “Perhaps my circuits are messing something up.”

“Zane, stop making up excuses,” Nya said.

“Nya, maybe he isn’t making up excuses,” Jay argued. "Maybe something is wrong with his circuitry."

“Would that affect your guys’ fusions like that?” Lloyd asked.

“Well Zane’s fusions can be a little… off sometimes,” Jay replied. “If his circuits are messed up, they could be messing stuff up with the fusions.”

“I-I’m sorry,” Zane apologized.

“Don’t apologize, Zane,” Nya said, placing her hand on his shoulder. “We’ll figure this out and it’ll be ok.”

Zane nodded quietly.

“Alright, we’ll give you some time to rest, ok?”

“Ok…” Zane replied.

The others all left the room, giving Zane some time to himself and also to give the others some time to discuss things.

“Jay, do you really think it’s something with his circuits?” Kai asked.

“I don’t know,” Jay admitted. “But the least we can do is check to see if anything’s wrong there, and if his circuits are fine, we can narrow it down from there.”

“I don’t know, Jay,” Cole replied. “It didn’t seem like a mechanical problem.”

“Cole, you remember what happened?” Nya questioned.

“Vaguely,” Cole admitted. “Everything just turned… cold… Really cold. And Zane just seemed so angry. And I couldn't do anything to stop him, he wouldn't listen to me. But that’s all I can remember about it.”

“Does he have a virus?” Jay theorized.

“Do viruses work like that?” Kai questioned.

“I don’t know, I’ve never fused with someone with a computer virus before,” Jay replied.

“Ok, we’re getting off track,” Lloyd said. “Kai, what happens when Swift starts getting out of control?”

“It’s like the entire area becomes extremely hot, and then extremely cold,” Kai explained. “It’s confusing to explain, but the temperature just goes crazy. And when I try to help Zane, he just blocks me out. He always looks so scared, but he never let’s me try to help him!” Kai let out a grunt. “It’s so annoying when he gets like that.”

“So with one fusion, he’s scared, but the other one, he’s angry?” Nya questioned. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“Well it’s all we have to go off of right now,” Lloyd replied. “Jay, you haven’t fused with Zane during all of this, have you?”

“No,” Jay answered. “Zane only fused with Kai until we encouraged him to fuse with Cole for that mission.”

“Ok…” Lloyd started thinking for a moment.

“How is Zane doing?”

The ninja were interrupted as Master Wu walked up to them.

“Hello, Master,” Lloyd greeted. “He’s resting right now. We’re just trying to figure out what’s wrong with him.”

“He thinks something in his circuits are messed up,” Nya explained.

Wu nodded. “That could be a possibility,” he agreed. “Normally, I would try to help, but I’m not sure how helpful I can be in this situation. This is the first instance of a nindroid fusing with humans, so I’m just as clueless as all of you are.”

“Don’t worry, Master Wu, we’ll figure this out,” Jay assured.

“I’m sure you will,” Wu let out a sigh. “I just worry about Zane. He’s been distant lately and I worry that he doesn’t feel like he belongs anymore.”

“Of course he belongs,” Lloyd said. “Just because he was in the Never Realm for so long doesn’t mean we’re gonna disown him.”

“I know,” Wu replied. “I just don’t know if Zane knows that.”

The room went quiet until Jay broke the silence by clapping his hands together.

“Welp, we’d better get to work,” Jay said. “Nya, you wanna come help me set the computer up to run a diagnostic?”

“Yep,” Nya replied. “You guys get Zane and meet us in the computer room.”

The others nodded and went back into Zane’s room while Jay and Nya headed to the computer room. They opened the door to Zane’s room and saw him sitting on the side of his bed, staring at the floor.

“Alright, rest time’s over,” Ka said.

Zane jumped as he heard Kai’s voice and looked over at the group. He forced a smile on his face. “Ok.”

He got up and followed the group into the computer room. Jay and Nya were almost done setting everything up, so Zane sat on the table next to the computer as he waited for them to finish.

“Almost done,” Jay informed. “Aaand, there we go.” He handed a cord to Nya and she walked over, plugging Zane into the computer.

“Alright, this is gonna take a while,” Nya said. “But if something’s wrong, we’ll figure it out.”

“Ok,” Zane said. “Thank you.”

“Hey, we’re here for you, Zane,” Nya assured.

Zane smiled at Nya, but it slowly faded away as he started looking at the floor again. Nya took notice of this and let out a soft sigh.

“We’ll give you some space, ok?” she assured.

Zane nodded.

“Jay, will you be fine monitoring the computer by yourself?” Nya asked.

“I know how to use computers, Nya,” Jay replied, somewhat snarkily.

“Ok, ok,” Nya backed off. “C’mon guys, let’s go.”

The others left the room, leaving Jay and Zane alone. They were both quiet for a while. Zane glazed at the computer. The bar indicating how much time was left on the diagnostic looked like it had barely even moved. Zane let out a sigh.

“How long was this going to take?” Zane asked.

“I don’t know,” Jay replied. “It could end up taking up to an hour, but we just want to be thorough.” The bar moved up by about 1%. “Ah! Look, it went up!”

Zane let out another sigh, this one longer than the last one. Jay looked over at him and sat down next to the nindroid.

“Hey, it’s gonna be ok, Zane,” Jay reassured.

“That’s what everybody keeps saying,” Zane responded. “What if it isn’t ok? What if… what if something is just wrong with me? And no matter what happens, I just start to ruin everything?”

“That won’t happen,” Jay said. “We told you we were gonna figure this out, and even if it takes us forever to do it, we’re gonna figure it out.”

“I am still unsure,” Zane admitted. 

“Zane,” Jay said. “We’ll be here for you.” 

Zane looked at Jay and gave him a small smile. Jay smiled back and gave the nindroid a hug to comfort him. Zane’s smile grew a little bigger as he returned the hug.

______________________________________________

The other ninja were sitting in the living room, eating some snacks.

“Nya, how long was the diagnostic gonna take,” Kai asked, his mouth full of potato chips.

“It could be up to an hour,” Nya replied. “It’s gonna be a while. But if it ends up getting finished quicker, Jay will let us know.”

“Do you think it was really a good idea to leave Jay and Zane in there alone?” Lloyd asked.

“Well it’s better than letting Zane stay there by himself,” Kai reminded. “He needs to be reminded that we’re here for him, but we can’t just be smothering him. He still needs his space.”

“How long has it been?” Cole questioned.

Nya pulled out her phone to check the time. “It’s been about twenty minutes,” she answered. “We should probably go check up on him.”

“Cole and I will go,” Kai offered. “C’mon, Cole.”

Cole nodded and got up. He picked up his can of soda to take it with him, taking a drink of it as they walked to the computer room.

Kai slowly opened the door, not wanting to cause any alarm.

“Hey, guys, how are things-” Kai froze.

“What? Is something-” Cole stopped mid sentence, dropping his soda on the ground.

Zane and Jay were gone.


	4. Searching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The remaining ninja decide to split up and go look for Jay and Zane.

“Guys? What’s wrong?” Nya asked, rushing over to see the problem.

Cole and Kai turned around. 

“They’re gone,” Kai replied.

“What?”

“Jay and Zane are gone!” Kai repeated. “They’re not here!”

Nya gently pushed Kai to the side to see what they were talking about. Her eyes widened as she saw that they were actually gone.

“Where did they go!?” she asked.

“We don’t know!” Kai replied. “We just came to check on them and they just weren’t here!”

“You don’t think they…” Nya said.

“No,” Kai dismissed, “why would they fuse knowing that it’s been causing problems!?”   
“But why else would they be gone?” Cole questioned.

“Well we need to find them,” Nya decided. “If they are fused, there’s no telling how much danger they could cause.”

“Alright, we’re gonna have to split up,” Cole said. “Kai and I will go one way and you and Lloyd can go look for him somewhere else.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Nya agreed. “Pixal went to the old Samurai X cave to work on her suit, so I can call her and get her to help too.”

“Good,” Cole replied. “We need all the help we can get.”

______________________________________________

The ninja split up to search for their missing friends. They tried using their tracker, but it was messing up and none of them could get a good signal. Not even Pixal’s advanced tracking device could pick up their signal. 

Kai and Cole decided to look for them away from the city. They figured if they were in the city, the signal wouldn’t be messed up, and thought a place like a forest would make a lot more sense to look for them. 

Kai let out a quiet grunt as he climbed over a large, knocked over log. 

“You doing ok?” Cole asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Kai replied, slight annoyance in his voice. “I just don’t understand why they would just leave without saying anything!”

“I’m sure they had a reason,” Cole assured. “Maybe not a good reason, but a reason nonetheless.”

“I’m just worried about Zane,” Kai sighed.

“We all are,” Cole agreed. “Ever since getting back from the Never Realm, he’s just seemed off. And with his fusions going haywire like this…” Cole shivered slightly.

“Woah, are you getting cold?” Kai asked.

“A little bit,” Cole replied. “The air’s starting to feel colder around here.”

“Cole, wait,” Kai stopped him. “Look.”

He pointed down to the ground. A trail of footprints were on the ground. Each footprint was covered in a layer of frost.

“Frost isn’t something you normally see in this forest,” Kai said.

“That must be them!” Cole replied. “But… I only see one set of footprints…” Cole started to look more worried.

“Cole, are you scared?” Kai asked.

“Yes I’m scared!” Cole responded. “There’s only one set of footprints, which means, more likely than not, they’re…”

Kai placed a hand on Cole’s shoulder. “Hey, it’ll be ok,” Kai assured. “If anything goes wrong, we have Vulcan.”

Cole nodded. “You’re right.” He let out a sigh. “Let’s start following these footprints.”

The two of them continued following the icy footprints. They seemed to go on forever, but they could feel they were getting close since the air continued getting colder and colder. Eventually, they reached snow. The footprints were harder to see now and the two of them looked up to see a bunch of white trees around them.

“The birch forest…” Kai mumbled. “We’re getting close.”

Cole nodded. He looked and noticed something in the distance. “What’s that?” he asked.

“What?”

“Over there,” Cole pointed. “It looks like ice.”

It was hard to entirely see the structure from all of the birch trees.

“Has there always been so many birch trees here?” Kai asked.

“It’s been a while since we’ve been here,” Cole reminded. “A lot of them probably grew.”

“Well we should probably go check that ice out,” Kai suggested. “Chances are, that’s where we’ll find them.”

Cole nodded. The two of them made their way to the structure. As they got closer, they were able to make out what it was. Kai stopped as he saw the structure in full. Cole took a couple more steps before stopping as well.

“It’s… a castle?” Cole questioned.

“The Ice Emperor’s castle…” Kai whispered.

Cole turned to him. “Are you gonna be ok?” he asked gently.

“I…” Kai paused for a moment. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

Cole held out his hand. “We don’t know what we’re gonna find in there,” he said. “It would probably be for the best to make sure we can’t get split up easily.”

Kai nodded quietly before grabbing Cole’s hand. They quickly fused before heading inside the castle. 

Vulcan was very cautious walking down the frozen halls of the castle. Unlike the castle in the Never Realm, this one was completely made out of ice instead of just being covered in ice. There wasn’t as much detail. Everything just looked like a clean sheet of ice.

“How did he make this?” Vulcan questioned. “This place is huge!” Vulcan shook his head. “Alright, focus. I need to find him. Where would he be?” He thought for a moment before realizing. “The throne room…”

Vulcan tried his best to remember the layout of the castle as he navigated. He eventually made his way to the main hallway and walked down it until he reached the end of it. He entered a large room and looked around in awe until he heard a quiet, almost ghostly voice.

“You shouldn’t be here…”

Vulcan looked at the center of the room and saw Chip standing there with his back to Vulcan.

“Chip!” Vulcan cheered. “Oh, thank God we found you, we were really worried-”

“Why did you come here?” Chip asked, still making no effort to face Vulcan.

“What?” Vulcan questioned. “We… we came here to find you,” he answered. “We were worried about you, Chip.”

“You shouldn’t worry about people who don’t deserve it…”

“Chip, what are you talking about?” Vulcan asked.

“I don’t deserve it…” Chip mumbled. “After everything… I only deserve to be trapped here… alone.”

“Chip-”

“After they fused… I panicked and ran away…” Chip continued rambling. “I was scared. And I should be scared. Everyone should be scared of me.”

“Chip, come on,” Vulcan urged, walking closer to him, “let’s just go back to the monastery. We’ll figure this out, and everything will be ok.”

“But it’s not…” Chip dismissed. “It’s not ok…” Chip wrapped his arms around himself as frost started to spread from his legs.

“Chip, you’re being-”

“Just leave,” Chip interrupted. “It’s like I told you, Vulcan. You shouldn’t be here.” Chip finally turned around, revealing his eyes to be glowing an icy blue color. Despite the blue glow in his eyes, his face looked dull.

“Chip, YOU shouldn’t be here!” Vulcan argued. “Running off into the woods, living in a castle of ice, that’s not going to help you at all! Just come home, please!” Vulcan reached his hand out towards Chip.

“Stay away,” Chip ordered, bolts of lightning shooting off of his body. A large, electrified ice crystal appeared to prevent Vulcan from getting too close. Chip looked away from Vulcan, staring at the ground.

Vulcan flinched back slightly at the ice crystal, but luckily, it didn’t actually touch him.

“Chip, enough already!” Vulcan said, creating a small fire in his hand to melt the ice crystal. “We can fix this! We’re gonna fix this!”

“Master Wu was right…” Chip mumbled. Ice started creeping up his legs.

“Ch-Chip?”

“Fusions are dangerous,” Chip continued. “All they do is hurt people. All  _ I _ do is ruin people…” The ice started moving it’s way up Chip’s body.

“Chip!” Vulcan tried to get through to him. He grabbed Chip’s arm and tried to drag him away, but Chip wouldn’t budge. “C’mon! Let’s go back to the monastery!”

“What’s the point?” Chip asked.

Vulcan looked back and saw ice had formed around Chip’s arm and was starting to make its way up Vulcan’s arm, too.

“WHAH!” Vulcan yelled. He grabbed his arm and tried to pull it free, eventually getting his arm out.

“All I ever do is hurt people…” Chip started to ramble again. “But if I stay here, then maybe no one else will get hurt… It’s what’s best for everyone.”

“Chip, don’t say that! Why are you acting like this!?”

“Please, just leave, Vulcan,” Chip pleaded. His body was almost entirely encased in ice now. 

“I’m not gonna leave you, Chip!” Vulcan yelled. “Why are you always so difficult!?” A small fire started to form at Vulcan’s feet. The heat from the flames started melting the ice around Chip’s body. Chip gasped slightly before looking at Vulcan with sad eyes.

“I’m sorry…” Chip whispered.

“Chip-”

Suddenly, the entire castle started to shake. Vulcan looked around in confusion.

“Chip, what’s going on!?” Vulcan asked.

Chip said nothing. 

A wall of ice suddenly shot out of the ground in front of Vulcan. Three more walls surrounded him and started pushing him away.

“What the!? Chip! What are you doing!?” Vulcan yelled.

Eventually, the walls stopped pushing him, but closed in on him until he had very little room to move. Icy shackles shot from the floor, wrapping around Vulcan’s wrists and pulling him onto the ground.

“Ack!” Vulcan yelled. He looked around at the small dark room he was in. “Chip?” he asked. His voice echoed in the room, giving it a haunting feel. “Chip!” Vulcan yelled again, but there was no response, only the echo of his own voice. Vulcan leaned against the wall in defeat. “Chip…” he whispered to himself. Vulcan pulled his legs up to his chest and hugged them, lowering his head as he was left alone in the dark, freezing room.


	5. Break the Ice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While trapped, Vulcan must figure out how to find a way out and get through to Chip.

Vulcan sat alone, the entire room dark and cold. No, this wasn’t a room. This was a cell. He was trapped. He was trapped in this icy room with no escape. It felt like an hour had gone by, but Vulcan still couldn't find a way to escape.

He tried to start a fire to free himself from the icy chains, but the cold around him prevented any flame from forming. Vulcan tried to call for the others, but he couldn’t get a signal. He shook his head. He really was all alone.

“Chip…” Vulcan whispered again. “I… I couldn’t save him…” Vulcan wanted to try again to break himself free, but he couldn’t find the energy in him to move. “Maybe he’s right…” Vulcan thought. “Fusions are dangerous. After all the damage I caused in the past…” Vulcan looked up. The entire room was dark, but he noticed a small amount of light shining from the ceiling. He stared at the small amount of light, just sitting completely still. “No,” Vulcan said. “Chip is wrong. This isn’t right!” Vulcan tried to stand up, but the icy chains around him pulled him back. With a grunt, he tried again, pulling at the chains and eventually, they snapped. The shackles around his wrists turned to snow as he broke free, falling to the ground. Vulcan was free from the chains, but he was still trapped in the cell. 

Vulcan looked around, trying to find a way out. He punched the wall, creating a crack in the ice, but the crack quickly mended itself. He couldn’t just punch his way through this wall. Vulcan sat back down.

“This is hopeless,” he mumbled to himself. “Even if I get out of here, how can I get Chip to listen to me?” Vulcan thought again about Chip’s words. He had sounded so helpless and tired, like he had completely given up on everything. 

_Fusions are dangerous… All they do is hurt people… All I do is ruin people…_ Chip’s words echoed in Vulcan’s head.

“What is he even talking about?” Vulcan questioned. “He doesn’t ruin people, he helps people. He helped me at least…” Vulcan was quiet for a moment, thinking about those words again. “Unless…” Vulcan eyes went wide as he realized. “That wasn’t Chip talking.” 

Vulcan turned into light, calmly splitting back into Kai and Cole. Cole opened his eyes after unfusing and looked over at Kai.

“Kai?”

“I think I know how to help him,” Kai said, looking back at Cole.

“Well we’re still stuck in here,” Cole replied. “I can’t break through the ice and you can’t get your fire working.”

“I know,” Kai grumbled. He looked at his hands, trying to create a flame. He could see the flame starting to form, but it still struggled to stay. Kai put his hands down and sighed. “I really am hopeless.”

“Don’t say that,” Cole replied. “It’s just something with this ice that’s making it too cold for you to make fire.”

“But that doesn’t make sense!” Kai yelled. “It shouldn’t be too cold for me to make fire! The Never Realm was freezing, but I made fire back there!”

“Maybe it was just different there,” Cole suggested. 

“No, it’s gotta be something else holding me back,” Kai replied. Kai thought for a moment. He looked around, but the room was completely barren. “UGH! C’mon, think of something!” he yelled at himself.

“Kai, calm down,” Cole said. “Don’t get mad at yourself.”

“But this is my fault!” Kai yelled. “I should’ve been there for him! I shouldn’t have assumed things were ok! I shouldn’t have…” Kai stopped himself. “I… You’re right Cole.”

“Right about what?” Cole questioned.

“I can’t get mad at myself,” Kai replied. He held his hand out, placing it on the icy wall. “I can’t be doubting myself like this.” A small flame started to form around Kai’s hand, slowly getting bigger as it started melting a hole. Eventually, the ice melted enough for the two of them to climb out. 

“Woah,” Cole commented. “How did you do that?”

“I just stopped doubting myself,” Kai replied. “Now we just need to get Zane to stop doubting himself.”

Kai started running and Cole followed him close behind. They ran through the icy castle until they finally reached the large room that Chip was keeping himself. Although this time, they noticed something different. A giant pillar stood in the middle of the room. At the top of it was a platform encased in ice, Chip sitting in the middle. Kai started walking closer to Chip. The quiet sound creaking in the ice as Kai walked caught Chip’s attention. He turned around and saw Kai.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, his voice still quiet.

“Zane, I’m sorry,” Kai apologized.

Chip blinked in surprise. “Z-zZane?” his voice glitched. He shook his head. “H-he’s not h-here.”

Kai could hear Chip’s voice trying to split. He walked closer. “Zane, you’re hurting,” he continued. “And I’m sorry for not realizing it sooner.”

“Z-ZAne’S not HeRe!” Chip’s voice glitched again. The icy pillar he sat on started to crack slightly.

“You must be so scared right now…” Kai said. “You’re scared that we’re gonna leave you because of what you’ve done.” Kai shook his head. “But I know you, Zane. You’re the kindest person I’ve ever met. No matter what, you always put yourself before others because you care about other people more than yourself. But you need to take time for yourself!”

“S-StOP!”

“So please, for once, let me put myself before you.”

Chip looked down at Kai. His body got shaky and glitched for a slight moment. 

Kai put his hand on the pillar, and it slowly started to fall to the ground. Kai stood back as he waited for Chip to reach the ground. The fusion sat on the ground, looking down. His body was extremely shaky at this point. Kai kneeled down and gave Chip a hug.

“We will always be here for you…” he whispered.

Chip breathed for a moment before breaking down. He turned into light, splitting into two. Zane sat with his arms clutching onto Kai while Jay sat to the side, rubbing his head in pain. Cole walked over and helped Jay off of the ground. The two of them looked at Kai and Zane, but said nothing. Tears were streaming down Zane’s cheeks as he buried his face into Kai’s chest. He held onto Kai’s back so hard that it looked like he was going to rip Kai’s shirt. Kai was quiet as he held Zane, just letting the nindroid cry. The ice around them slowly started to disappear. After what felt like hours, Zane finally stopped crying. He looked up at Kai.

“C’mon,” Kai whispered. “It’s time to go home.”


	6. Solutions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zane finally opens up about his problems.

A couple days had passed since the incident. Everyone at the monastery had put all of their focus into making sure Zane felt comfortable. Eventually, Zane was ready to talk.

“I just… I can’t help but be scared,” he explained. “I spent so many years with that staff. So many years as the Ice Emperor. What if something happens and I hurt all of you again?”

“Zane, it’s going to be ok,” Nya assured. “The staff isn’t here to corrupt you anymore.”

“But…” Zane’s voice trailed off.

The room went quiet as they all waited for Zane to continue. After the nidroid continued to stay quiet, Wu spoke.

“Perhaps the effects of the staff have been lingering with you,” he suggested. “But it seems it only comes out through your fusions.”

Zane seemed to shrink away. “I’m sorry…”

“Would you stop blaming yourself for this?” Kai asked. “This isn’t your fault. And we’re here to help you, ok?”

Zane looked at Kai and nodded. “Ok…”

“Whenever you start getting stressed out, we’ll be here to help,” Kai repeated.

“I’m just… I don’t want to hurt you guys,” Zane said again. “And if fusing with me means you’ll get hurt…”

“Zane, we’re not gonna give up fusion,” Cole replied. “Not after all we’ve gone through with them.”

Zane looked at Cole and then turned his attention to Jay.

“Yeah,” Jay agreed, “we just need to work out a system to help you calm down when things get rough for you.”

“Like… like what?” Zane asked.

Kai placed his hand on Zane’s shoulder. “We’ll remind you that you’re not alone,” he said. “We’ll remind you that you aren’t the Ice Emperor anymore, that you’re just Zane.”

“Your friends will never leave you,” Cole added. “We’ll always be there for you no matter what.”

“And we’ll help you see that things aren’t as bad as you think they are,” Jay said. “Sometimes your problems can seem like the end of the world when really they aren’t.”

Zane looked at the three of them. He smiled and pulled all of them in for a hug. The four ninja sat there hugging each other for a while until Kai getsured for the others to join in. They smiled as they walked over to join the hug. 

Zane continued smiling as he was surrounded by his family.  _ You’re not alone,  _ the words repeated in his head.  _ You’re never alone. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go again with me wanting to post this chapter earlier, especially since this chapter is so short, but I forgot. I just got a new laptop so I may or may not have gotten distracted by playing some games that I haven't been able to play in forever. ANYWAY, that's the end of another fic. I think this was my shortest one, but that's ok, not every fic needs to be extremely long and this was just meant to be a shorter story to show that Zane isn't fully recovered from the events in the Never Realm because I'm still really mad that Zane didn't seem to care AT ALL in the actual show.


End file.
